75 years of Champions
2022 is the 75th anniversary of the Irish Sailing All Irelands or Helmsman’s Championship.
To mark this anniversary, Irish Sailing made two decisions – one was to rename the competition as the Champions’ Cup to reflect the more inclusive times we live in, and the second was to update the nomination criteria for better female representation.
A group made up of past competitors, hosts and organisers worked through feedback from various stakeholders and recommended a number of changes to the nomination criteria for selection of the 16 places including two places for female helms based on finishing results at selected qualifying events, one place for a host boat nominee, and a “President’s Choice” wildcard nominee. The Junior Champions’ Cup will also see changes to the nomination criteria including two places for female helms and a President’s Choice wildcard nominee. Details of all the changes can be found in the NOR (see links below).
We’ve made a short film showing a brief history of the event from its inception in 1947, interviewing some past winners and understanding its enduring legacy and importance.
The roll call of winners is a veritable who’s who of the Irish sailing scene – from Olympians and Paralympians Ger Owens, Mark Mansfield, Peter O’Leary, Laura Dillon, Tom Fitzpatrick and Feargal Kinsella, to stalwarts of the racing scene like Clayton Love, Anthony O’Leary, Robert Dix, Neville Maguire and Johnny Hooper: https://www.sailing.ie/Racing/Champions-Cup/All-Ireland-Past-Winners
Harry Hermon, CEO of Irish Sailing commented “not many sports can boast annual events that have continued over a span of 75 years. The only break has been because of COVID. This is such a prestigious event for the sailing community – not only does it have a long history of celebrating the achievements of champion sailors, it pits the finest against each other making it a consistently exciting competition each year, and I’m delighted that the newly named Champions’ Cup is getting a new boost to see it through the next 75 years”.
The 2022 Irish Sailing Champions’ Cup will be held on 8th and 9th October at Sutton Dinghy Club in GP14s. It will be preceded by the Junior Champions’ Cup on 24th and 25th September at Fastnet Outdoor Education Centre in Schull.
Irish Sailing Junior Champions' Cup NOR
Irish Sailing Champions' Cup NOR
With thanks to Andrew Johnston, David Branigan and Ryan Wilson.